"Take It Easy, Greasy" & "Dan, The Back Door Man" (sound files & lyrics)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post showcases Lil Johnson's "Take It Easy, Greasy" and Georgia White "Dan, The Back Door Man".

Both of these songs are examples of African American "dirty Blues" from the mid 1930s. Information about "dirty Blues" is included in this post along with the two featured song files, information about those songs' vocalists/writers, song lyrics, and comments about some of the meaning of certain phrases are also included in this post.

The content of this post is presented for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Lil Johnson and Georgia White for their musical legacies. Thanks also to the publishers of these examples on YouTube.

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INFORMATION ABOUT DIRTY BLUES
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirty_blues
"Dirty blues encompasses forms of blues music, that deal with socially taboo subjects, including sexual acts and/or references to drug use of some kind. Due to the sometimes graphic subject matter, such music was often banned from radio and only available on a jukebox. The style was most popular in the years before World War II and had a revival in the 1960s.[1]

Many songs used innuendo, slang terms, or double entendres, such as Lil Johnson's "Press My Button (Ring My Bell)" ("Come on baby, let's have some fun / Just put your hot dog in my bun"). However, some were very explicit. The most extreme examples were rarely recorded at all, Lucille Bogan's obscene song Shave 'em Dry (1935) being a rare example ("by far the most explict blues song preserved at a commercial pre-war recording session").[2]"...
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That Wikipedia page includes a list of "dirty Blues" records with their recording dates.

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INFORMATION ABOUT LIL JOHNSON
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lil_Johnson_(blues_singer)
"Lil Johnson (dates and places of birth and death unknown) was an African American singer, who recorded bawdy blues and hokum songs in the 1920s and 1930s.

Her origins and early life are not known. She first recorded in Chicago in 1929, accompanied by pianists Montana Taylor and Charles Avery on five songs including "Rock That Thing". She did not return to the recording studio until 1935, when her more risqué songs included "Get 'Em from the Peanut Man (Hot Nuts)", "Anybody Want to Buy My Cabbage?", and "Press My Button (Ring My Bell)" … She also recorded a version of "Keep A-Knockin'",[1] a song that later became a hit for Little Richard....

In 1936 and 1937, she recorded over 40 songs, mostly on the Vocalion label, some featuring Big Bill Broonzy on guitar and Lee Collins on trumpet....

All her songs were sung in a vigorous and sometimes abrasive way, and have been anthologized on many later blues collections.
-snip-
Note: I'm not sure whether Lil Johnson's song
Take It Easy, Greasy" was recorded before Georgia White's song "Dan, The Back Door Man" that includes that line".

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SHOWCASE EXAMPLE: Lil Johnson - Take It Easy Greasy



Grammercy Records Published on Feb 7, 2013

Lil Johnson - Take It Easy Greasy
From The Album: Those Dirty Blues Volume 4

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LYRICS - TAKE IT EASY, GREASY
(Lil Johnson)

Take it easy greasy, love me 'till I get enough
Take it easy greasy, now baby don't you get so rough
Hug me honey, squeeze me tight
You need not hurry ''cause you got all night, so
Take it easy greasy, love me 'till I get enough (I got to have it)
Love me till I get enough

Take it easy greasy, love me till I get enough
Take it easy greasy, now baby don't you get so rough
I'm going down town to old Butcher Beat
''cause I want to piece of his good old meat, so
Take it easy greasy, love me 'till I get enough (I got to have it)
Love me till I get enough

Take it easy greasy, love me till I get enough
Take it easy greasy, now baby don't you get so rough
I call you this morning about half past two
Now tell me daddy what you going to do, so
Take it easy greasy, love me 'till I get enough (I got to have it)
Love me till I get enough

Take it easy greasy, love me till I get enough
Take it easy greasy, now baby don't you get so rough
Sweet as candy in a candy shop
It's just your sweet sweet lollipop, so
Take it easy greasy, love me 'till I get enough (I got to have it)
Love me till I get enough

Take it easy greasy, love me till I get enough
Take it easy greasy, now baby don't you get so rough
The jaybird say to the pecker wood,
Now I'll let you peck just like a pecker should, but
Take it easy greasy, love me 'till I get enough (I got to have it)
Love me till I get enough

Songwriters: LIL JOHNSON
http://www.lyricsfreak.com/l/lil+johnson/take+it+easy+greasy_20318267.html
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"Take it easy, greasy" may have been a vernacular saying among 1930s African Americans before this song-and Georgia White's song "Dan, The Back Door Man"- where it is also found. My guess is that "greasy" was an informal general referent for Black males who "conked" their hair, and, by extension, those Black males who didn't have that hair style.

"The conk (derived from congolene, a hair straightener gel made from lye) was a hairstyle popular among African-American men from the 1920s to the 1960s". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conk
-snip-
Hair that was conked ("processed") was greasy.

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INFORMATION ABOUT GEORGIA WHITE
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_White
"Georgia White (March 9, 1903 – c.1980) was an African American blues singer, most prolific in the 1930s and 1940s.

Little is known of her early life. By the late 1920s she was singing in clubs in Chicago, and she made her first recording, "When You're Smiling, the Whole World Smiles With You," with Jimmie Noone's orchestra in 1930. She returned to the studio in 1935, and over the next six years recorded over 100 tracks for Decca Records, usually accompanied by the pianist Richard M. Jones and also, in the late 1930s, by guitarist Lonnie Johnson.[1]

She also recorded under the name Georgia Lawson. Tracks included "I'll Keep Sitting on It," "Take Me for a Buggy Ride," "Mama Knows What Papa Wants When Papa's Feeling Blue," and "Hot Nuts." Her best-known song was "You Done Lost Your Good Thing Now."[1]

White formed an all-women band in the 1940s, and also performed with Bumble Bee Slim. She joined Big Bill Broonzy's Laughing Trio in 1949 as pianist. "She was very easy to get along with," said Broonzy. "Real friendly."[1] She was a club singer in the 1950s, finally performing in 1959 in Chicago."...

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SHOWCASE EXAMPLE: Dan The Backdoor Man Georgia White.mov



Sue Gray Published on Feb 17, 2013

Georgia White 1936 - 1937 [recorded May 1936]

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LYRICS -DAN, THE BACK DOOR MAN
(Georgia White)

Take it easy.
Squeeze me tight.
Take your time.
You got all night.
Take it easy, greasy,
Like Dan, the back door man.

Take it easy.
Now that’s right.
Got to take it.
It won’t bite.
Take it easy, greasy,
Like Dan the back door man.

Now, baby you got it.
Give me your tongue.
Keep it right there.
Now ,baby you got it.
See what you’ve done.
But I don’t care.

Kiss me baby
Call it square.
Some day maybe
You’ll play fair.
Take it easy, greasy,
Like Dan, the back door man.

[instrumental]

Take it easy.
Squeeze me tight
Take your time
You have all night
Take it easy, greasy.
Like Dan, the back door man.
Take it easy.
Now that’s right
Can’t you take it
It won’t bite
Take it easy, greasy,
Like Dan the back door man.

Now, baby you got it.
Give me your tongue.
Keep it right there.
Now, baby you got it.
See what you’ve done.
But I don’t care.

Kiss me baby.
Call it square.
Some day maybe
You’ll play fair.
Take it easy, greasy,
Like Dan, the back door man
-snip-
This is my transcription of these lyrics from that recording. Additions and corrections are welcome.
-snip-
What the phrase "Dan, the back door man" means:
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sixty_Minute_Man
..."Bragging about sexual prowess was a feature of the "hokum" style of early blues recordings. The reference to "Dan" (alternatively, "Jim Dandy") dates back at least to minstrel shows in the nineteenth century. A common reference was to "Dan, the Back Door Man" - the lover of a married woman who would leave her house by the back door - as in a song of that title recorded by Georgia White in 1937."
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What "call it square" means:
http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/call+square
"call something square

to pronounce a debt or obligation to have been paid, balanced, or ended. Thanks for the hundred bucks. I think we can call it square now."

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